Do Boom Boxes Dream ? the life of a Ghetto Blaster !

[BENDYCAT]

Was having a think while in the kitchen of all the electronics and white goods, think that when we were younger grandma's fridge or cooker was made to last - workmanship was put into it and it ran for years and years - usually only the way it was replaced was for a more up to date looking one, often told that the new one would say money and run it's self - not the case nowadays as most brake down in 6 months and need bits replacing, only to find you have to buy and whole unit or that little bit is not available unless you buy a bigger more expensive part for it

so with today's music centres - i-pods - mini/midi hi-fi's all getting smaller and moving faster then you can blink - by the time you have paid for the item, walked out the door, the next model is apon you being better fast and smaller and being able to do more

so what was the life expectancy of a boom box - did they make them to last and just die out of old age - or to be used and thrown away ready for th next one

in my mind it slips in between both - they have lasted and not too much need replacing on most when you find them - i know that they brought out new models to keep it fresh, but nothing like the 90's and it's plastic run of shelling them out and using up the design

my grandma's fridge still works

my boom box still runs

my i-pod has lost sound in one ear and the screen is giving up

the TV is also out of date and the dvd part has packed up

so while we move on in technology, that is supposed to help us - often it doesn't it just slows us down and gets in the way of living

did ghetto blasters still think they would be around today - did they dream that they would get this far - were they made with a heart and soul to keep people loving them till they were no more

or did they just survive for being made a bit to well and out live there life expectancy

cheers B :cat:

 

[Fatdog]

did ghetto blasters still think they would be around today - did they dream that they would get this far - were they made with a heart and soul to keep people loving them till they were no more

or did they just survive for being made a bit to well and out live there life expectancy

cheers B :cat:

That's a very interesting take on them, Bendy. A good bit of them were made with such good quality that it would have been surprising for them to not last this long. But... I say we collectors owe quite a bit to those boombox owners of the past who took care of these old units and cherished them. They were the first ones to recognize quality and held on to them for all these years. It is scary to imagine how many M90s were just tossed out over the years because their owners decided to "upgrade" to something newer.

 

[monchito]

belive me if everthing was built like they did 20 to 30 years ago it would probably still be working ,, things have changed because of money notice that most electronics are built to last only a few years , cars are basicly almost the same once in the 100,000 mile mark everthing starts going wrong,, very seldome do u see a modern car turn the million miles marks a few times,, people will get tired of it and move on to something new , belive me u should see the tons of old tvs that have been trashed just because the new flat screens are in town and have seen old record players stitting at the curbsite waiting for the garbage truck but i see more mondern shelf systems in the trash also not built with the 80s quality ,,our boxes were fixable u could find parts, there were alot of tv shops making money back in the days but now if u see one shop they wont touch anything old all u see is plasma tvs waiting for boards. let alone the in house techs that fix your equipments just changing a board no soldering requierd

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

This is an interesting subject and some interesting reply's....

I think that quality has been replaced with corporate profits and pride of workmanship has been replaced with companies not respecting their employees so people do stay at their jobs long enough to care!

In the US, almost the entire fleet of cars on the road is replaced every 15 years! Cars today do allot of mileage, but we do it in a very short period of time (for most of us) when you compare how much we used to drive, say in the 1970's.

I think that there are low end radios from the 80's that didn't stand the test of time that some of the higher quality units did, but over all I think there was a higher level of quality built into allot of these units that made it possible for us to collect them today.

I don't see that level of quality in even high dollar items today! Be it stereo's, cars or appliances, they just don't hold up and I don't think they are meant too! If your a maker of Stoves or Washing machines, do you want it to last 30 years or is 7,8 or 9 years good enough, so people will buy a new one.

Here's a list of things that I feel have let me down, I will not be listing the product manufacturer's names out of respect for the people that need their jobs....but all these products are Cr@p!

New Black side by side refrigerator, had it 1 week, power supply burned out, at 1 year it did it again, at 2 years the ice maker leaked all over my house with a bad water line

New stove / oven, 4 years old, oven stopped working, gas igniter went bad $100 replacement part!

my truck is a 2000, 150,000 miles, I have spent more money trying to keep that thing alive then I want to say and it's not running right now! Started giving me trouble at 80,000 miles.

water heater, paid top dollar, biggest one they make, highest BTU, problems with the pilot light, problems with temp control.....I relight it every few weeks....lots of cold showers!

This list can go on and on....my point is.....you will not see ANY of these products in 20 years let alone 30 years...

 

[Gluecifer]

All of these things have one thing in common:
Yesterday's gear: made by their companies in their country of origin with standards kept high.
Today's gear: all mass produced in China where costs are kept low.

It's all short term/bottom line values these days, and the things made with an craftsmanship outside of China are priced accordingly.


Also, "Do Boomboxes Dream of Electric Cassettes?" is what I read every time I read this topic!



Rock On.

 

[joeladamkrueger]

Planned obsolence= $$$